There’s definitely a case to be made for buying quality. If you buy a $100 pair of boots, you may actually spend less over time than you would on a pair of $20 boots you have to replace annually. However, sometimes buying quality is just a justification to spend money on stuff you don’t need. Plus, just because something is expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s made well. I wrote about a few of my own “buy quality” or “investment piece” regrets, including expensive tees that lasted just as long as cheaper ones. Do you have any of your own “buy quality” spending regrets?

If you’ve ever overspent on quality and regretted it, tell us about it. What did you buy and why wasn’t it worth it? If you like, you can share your lessons learned, too, and tell us what guidelines you use now to figure out when it makes sense to buy quality.